A Prince Performs Austerities (recto); Shiva and His Followers Return to Mount Kailash (verso), from a Romance of Chandrabhanu and Lavanyavati of Upendra Bhanja (1670–1740) (1700s): Art, History and D

A Prince Performs Austerities (recto); Shiva and His Followers Return to Mount Kailash (verso), from a Romance of Chandrabhanu and Lavanyavati of Upendra Bhanja (1670–1740) (1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this illustration from the beginning of a popular romance, a prince performed intense austerities and devotions to the Shiva linga in order to obtain a divine woman. He practices yoga surrounded by fires during the hot season and wanders unsheltered during monsoon, as seen on the recto. On the verso, Shiva has answered his prayers and returns home to his "cave on Mount Kailash," as stated in the inscription.

Object facts

• Title: A Prince Performs Austerities (recto); Shiva and His Followers Return to Mount Kailash (verso), from a Romance of Chandrabhanu and Lavanyavati of Upendra Bhanja (1670–1740)
• Date: 1700s
• Culture: Eastern India, Odisha (formerly Orissa)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and lampblack on palm leaf
• Dimensions: Leaf: 5.1 x 41 cm (2 x 16 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.175

A detail from the museum

There is a three-legged yogi on the verso.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mace, Sonya Rhie. “A Page from Supernatural Love: Collaboration often leads to unanticipated discoveries.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no. 4 (July/August 2019): 12.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.